It’s been ten years since I got sick. It’s been one heck of a war, separated into times of high battles, prolonged sieges and relentless small skirmishes. I couldn’t have imaged ten years ago that I’d still be fighting this war. Things have been very, very difficult lately. I realized that I stopped writing because… Read more Ten Year Anniversary
Last week, I went to ambulatory care to get my access to my port changed. I often do it at home, but I go there once a month to pick up supplies and have a nurse change it, have a look at it. (Apparently they want me to come in every week now- which is… Read more The Virus Arrives: A Shocking Lack of Preparedness
Over and above all MCAS treatments is trigger avoidance. You can take all the meds in the world, but if you don’t avoid setting off those pesky mast cells, you’re not going to get anywhere. So where do you start? Do nothing Well, that sounds easy, doesn’t it? Ha! 🤪 Remember Grade 9 science, where… Read more First step in Trigger Identification: Do nothing.
Now that the unofficial ‘diet month’ has passed, I thought I’d give some of my thoughts on what diet works best for people with MCAS. The short answer is ‘yours’. If only one thing is true, it’s that people with MCAS are different. What works for one will do another one in. People like to… Read more MCAS Diet Options
Physicians are people, falliable, imperfect, emotive people. And yet, they are expected to be perfect, to know everything, to never make an error. How silly! These expectations make physicians worse, not better. The fear of liability permiates, yet anyone who has ever tried to sue a doctor in Canada knows that it’s almost impossible to… Read more When Physicians Don’t have an Answer
It’s official, MCAS is a ‘thing’. No, not according to some medical governing body… according to People Magazine! There was an article in this week’s magazine about a girl with MCAS, which you can read it ://people.com/human-interest/teenage-girl-allergic-to-almost-everything/.Very rare for a pop news magazine, but they did a great job. It’s well written, and nothing jumped… Read more MCAS is real.
Seven Year Itch (Article as submitted, December 2018 to The Mighty http://www.themighty.com) I’ve been itchy for seven years. It’s time to scratch that itch. In November 2011 my life turned upside down. I’ve always had allergies, but what started as sudden severe abdominal pain signaled a new level of allergic reactions. I now know that… Read more The Seven Year Itch
Tryptase. The mere mention of it makes Mastie’s cringe. Physicians and patients alike seem to have a great deal of difficulty sorting to out. A recent discussion came up after patients had been to see Dr Vadas, the most well known Canadian MCAS expert. It seemed that he was giving contradictory advice. He had told… Read more Tryptase
It’s such a common image in our society, the ‘witch’ at her cauldron, brewing up some noxious potion; inescapable at Halloween. I have started watching a documentary series called “Noxious Weeds” that explores the legends, facts and possibilities of various traditional medicines. Cultural stereotypes are created from grains of truth, snippets of logic, mixed with… Read more Iron, Cauldrons and The Nordic Connection
With the buzz created about a new International Mast Cell Disorders organization, and a launch of the first Mast Cell Disorders awareness day last weekend, I thought I’d bring my own particular flavour to it. I’m currently into beading and jewelry, and it was fun to find beads that might work, and to make several others.… Read more Mast Cell Beads